The US National Academies have appointed Roger Blandford to chair the next decadal survey in astronomy, starting a two-year process that culminates in a priority list of astronomy projects for the next ten years (see Nature 443, 386–389; 2006).

Blandford, director of the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology at Stanford University in California, will assemble a committee of about 20 people. They will gather input from hundreds of panel members into a final report and wish-list, expected by mid-2010. NASA, the National Science Foundation and Congress often cite the report in setting science budgets.

But the last survey, in 2001, was over-ambitious in recommending seven major projects. Cost overruns mean that none of them will be finished this decade. That survey's highest priority, the $4.5-billion James Webb Space Telescope, is due for launch in 2013.